Blasts rip through mosque, minivans in Afghanistan, killing at least a dozen

Islamabad: A series of explosions have shaken Afghanistan, the Taliban said, including a blast inside a mosque in the capital of Kabul that killed at least five worshippers and three bombings of minivans in the country’s north that killed nine passengers.

The Kabul Emergency Hospital said it received 22 victims of the mosque bombing on Wednesday (AEST), including five dead.

There were no further details on the blast that struck the Hazrat Zakaria Mosque in the city’s central Police District 4 earlier in the day, according to Khalid Zadran, a Taliban police spokesman in Kabul.

“The blast took place while people were inside the mosque for the evening prayers,” Zadran said, adding that they were waiting for an update.

The minivans were targeted in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif after explosive devices were placed inside the vehicles, according to Mohammad Asif Waziri, a Taliban-appointed spokesman in Balkh province.

He said the explosions killed nine and wounded 15.

All the victims in Mazar-e-Sharif were from the country’s minority Shiite Muslims, according to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to give details to the media.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosions, but they had the hallmarks of the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or IS-K.

Growing violence in recent months has caused security challenges for the Taliban who took over the country in August as foreign forces withdrew. The Islamic State has claimed several attacks, often targeting the Shi’ia minority.

The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country’s new Taliban rulers.

Following their takeover when they seized power in Kabul and elsewhere in the country last August, the Taliban have launched a sweeping crackdown against the IS headquarters in eastern Afghanistan.

AP

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